Princessification
by falloutoflove
Summary: You'd think that,as a spy, i would be able to handle an undercver job as a princess right? Wrong. Try living with an obnoxious prince, a stuborn governness, and numerous death threats. Why is royalty more like imprisonment? My first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Paige the Great

This is the story of my extensive, drown out, doom; the art of becoming a princess. No joke. See my life was never perfect but I found my place. My place is dangerous, dodgy, and never eventless. I'm a spy, living in the 15th century. I work for a man named Shore and his firm. My agent Mary and I are but one of the teams that make up our secret family. We fix and protect the lovely nation of Kurt. Shore's 16 are invincible. Well it was until we got this mission.

It was sunny as I'll get out when I walked into Mary's office. The name plate on her desk read _Loretta Lindsay Doirt,_ but I called her Mary because she was a saint. She was sitting behind her desk reading the daily news when I walked in.

"Does the marvelous Mary have an assignment for me?" I asked smiling. She huffed put down the paper and turned to look at me with a weary, but somewhat excited expression on her face.

"Have you seen the paper?" she replied.

"I stopped reading the paper when I was twelve." That was four years ago when I learned what the obituary was.

"Well you know of the Kurt-Ishmire feud. Ishmire has designed a new military. The raiders are a high strung, small, largely discipline group of fighters. As you can imagine, the Royal family is very worried and frankly I don't blame them. We are one step away from war and with the addition of the Raiders," she sighs "The country is on edge. I mean its scary and I-"

"Mary," I cut off "What does this have to do with me?"

"Right the point. The King and Queen have requested our help for the protection and security of themselves and their people. They need an inside man for their parties and balls and whatnot; someone undercover to catch rumors and protect their people- not to mention their kids."

"So you want me to baby-sit?" Ugh, that is not my forté.

"No. Paige, you will become a debutante. Duchess Elizabeth Amelia Vandiver Clark, the King's cousin's daughter from the country Elivin. Well go on say something!"

I didn't say anything. I stood there with my mouth wide open, deer in the headlight eyes.

"You're joking," I hoped.

"Oh come on Paige it's not that hard of believe-"

"Mary! I lived in an orphanage for half my life and the other half was spent in a shop! I don't know how to dress, or dance, or use manners-"

"Honey, we'll teach you all of that. And why should your past matter?"

I was pacing now, fretting and picking my finger nails. "Why me?" I whined.

"You're the youngest and the fastest leaner. You'll be an amazing young lady."

We look at each other and broke out laughing. Since I was little I had a fear of being a princess. You may think that's odd, but if you heard the stories I heard you would think twice about being royal. All the lessons, not being able to eat what you want (which isn't really my problem. I don't know how they are going to fatten me up. I'm too thin to be a debutante) and they don't allow you to learn how to fight! I mean no girl really is allowed to learn but my case is an exception. Sailors would tell me stories of how princesses were locked in towers with dragons and would wait there for ever. It scared the hell out of me!

Plus, I'm not really royalty material. I was born into an orphanage because my parents couldn't support me. I was released when I was eight to settle my parent's debt. I worked on a harbor for a blacksmith. That's were I first fell in love with swordsman's ship. Not only did I learn how to make them, I learned how to handle a sword. When I was fifteen the blacksmith released me and I stumbled into one of Shore's missions by accident. He was impressed with my knowledge of how to fight and talent, and I've been here ever since. It's been a year now that I've been with the company. They're the only family I ever knew. I've never met my parents. I have picture of them and have heard stories of them. According to the people who knew them, they were poor. That's about all I know.

Doesn't get much deeper than that.

So a lady I am not. I'm too small to be a princess. I'm barely big enough to be a spy! I'm 5'4" and thin. Thinner than anyone I've met. It's not like I watch what I eat. It's just that I can't really keep weight on. I have a fast metabolism, not to mention all that running and fighting. My straight red hair is always unkept, blowing in my face or full of knots. Light freckles cover my face and contrast with my deep sea foam eyes. My lips were a deep red almost like a beauty, but they are chapped and peeling. My hands are rough from my work as a blacksmith and my skin is tanned from sitting out to long on the pier.

That's another one of my problems, I day dream way to much. When I'm bored, that's all I do, so I try to keep myself as busy as possible because if I didn't I probably spend ours in a closet or a roof or somewhere else where no one could find me and think. I like to be alone when I think. When I'm not zoning out I am always in the company of people. That can get annoying. Don't get me wrong I love the bureau like my family. Ugh I'll have to deal with snooty nobles and be nice, listen to them brag and gossip and make bets of who can get into the prince's panties first.

Kill me now.


	2. The Prisoner On Alastor Street

The Prisoner on Alastor Street

The sun was big and bright again, mocking me. I felt anything but warm sunshine. I felt like I was going to hurl. There I was with miles of fabric draped into a dress that I wore and my air climbed to the ceiling. I sat with my hands folded, my left thumb stroking a protruding vein in my right hand. I was breathing very slowly, savoring every last breath of freedom.

"Don't look so morbid! You're going to do fine." Mary stated while rubbing my back.

"Easy for you to say."

I had just finished some etiquette lessons that Shore said I was in desperate need of before I lived in misery….oops…. I mean the palace. I now know how to get out of a carriage properly, address royalty and non royalty, and how to wear a corset, my new favorite accessory.

"Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine." Peter added from across the carriage.

Peter is Mary's 19-year-old son. We had grown up together and he is like a brother to me. He views me like I'm his little sister, very protective.

We came to a sudden stop and I lurched forward, almost falling to the floor. Mary pulled me back and said one last thing before we exited.

"Remember, nobody knows except the King and Queen and some advisors. The prince and princess don't know and neither does the court."

I nodded and sighed. The door opened and Peter emerged first. He helped me out and Mary followed. The first thing I did was stare at the enormous palace. My mouth dropped slowly, but I quickly shut it at Mary's prick in the back. The place was massive, at least five stories high with gardens surrounding the entire estate. We had entered through a large and intricate wrought iron gate. Fountains supplied a rush of soothing noise and larger than life statues presented the lineage and power of the country.

I was pulled out of my trance by a greeting.

"Welcome to Alastor Palace, Mademoiselle." said a man trying to disguise how short he was with a big feathery hat. "I am Don Jesster, the house manager." he introduced.

"I will be forever grateful that you have arranged my stay." I said as I put on an innocent smile. Mary looked please. Don Jesster turned to look at Mary and Peter.

"I'm sorry but you must now say goodbye to your travel party."

I turned around and gave Peter a huge hug first. He whispered "Nothing stupid" in my ear. I rolled me eyes, but smiled. I then turned to Mary and gave her an even bigger hug.

I heard "Be safe" whispered from her. We detached and they climbed back into the carriage. I watched as they descended through the gate. None of us cried. We had done it to many times to get emotional.

I was brought back to reality-again-by a grunt like clearing of the throat. I turned to see that two new people had joined us. They had walked over from a nearby garden by the looks of it.

"May I present Princess Elodie and Prince James" Don Jesster introduced, motioning his hand to each person. I curtsied low at each introduction. Elodie was adorable. She was about five with messy blond hair and bright blue eyes. She held out a bouquet of flowers for me which I accepted graciously. James was about a year older that me and tall; taller than Peter. His hair was deep dark dark brown and messy and his eyes were the same blue as Elodie's but more intense, older, harder I guess.

"You shall meet the King and Queen later. Shall we go inside" said Don Jesster.

Elodie took a hold of my hand and we walked inside followed by James. The grand hall was blank and empty. It's only source of beauty was stain glass windows close to the ceiling. Faded tapestries hung on the walls and a lager marble staircase occupied most of the room. A small plump young woman ran down the staircase to us.

"This is Margarite, your maid." Don Jesster introduced. She gave a little curtsy and I bowed my head.

"I will show you to your room miss." She said and started up the staircase. I followed still holding Elodie's hand. We stopped on the third floor and down several halls and corridors. I memorized the maze to my room so I wouldn't get lost. We finally stopped at a large white door. Margarite let me open the door and I found myself standing inside a giant marshmallow. Everything was a plush white with gold trimmings, the windows, the chest, the walls. Even the ceiling was white with intricate and numerous gold moldings. The bed was huge and fluffy. It took **all** of my strength to not jump on it. Margarite explained that there were two hidden doors in the wall. One led to a bathroom and the other a closet. She also explained that I would meet the King and Queen before dinner.

"You must be hungry. Let's go down to the kitchen and get something to eat" piped up Elodie. You could easily tell that she loved guests, especially ones that behaved like older sisters.

The two of us went down to the main floor and into the breakfast room. The chef came out of the kitchen when he saw us.

"This is Chef Greg," Elodie introduced "the greatest chef in the world."

"I am always happy to receive that title from you Mademoiselle Elodie." he laughed. "How about I fetch you something new? It was just shipped in from Spain." With that he flew back into the kitchen and not a minuet later he was back with a round tin.

He placed it on the table and said "Now don't let your mother know I gave you this. It's going to be served at the upcoming ball but I'll let you two be guinea pigs."

A wide smile grew across Elodie's face. Greg pried open the tin to reveal an assortment of different brown colored squares. Elodie and I took one and bite into it. It was amazing. It was like nothing I had ever had before, sweet, moist, and melted right in my mouth. Elodie was already on her second piece.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Chocolate" Greg replied.

"It's delicious!"

Elodie and I sat there until we finished the whole tin. While we ate, Greg told us stories of how it's made and what makes it so good. We must have been there a while because Don Jesster came in and said that my presence with the rulers was requested. I thanked Greg for the treat and excused myself. Don Jesster led me down a hallway into a study. The walls were made of warm mahogany and a roaring fire warmed the room from a marble fire place carved to look like two lions.

"May I present their highnesses Queen Clairyssa and King Ormond."

I gave a low curtsy and a bright smile. "I am exceptionally happy by your generosity as to letting me stay inside your palace."

The pair smiled at my charm. They shooed Don Jesster away which only meant that they wanted to talk to me privately about my mission.

"We are forever grateful that you could help us in our situation." said Queen Clairyssa.

"It is my duty to serve and protect the nation." Eww, being proper is hard.

"Well, we would like to return the favor. Your leader Monsieur Shore has mentioned that you are unfamiliar with dancing. Is that correct?" said King Ormond.

I nodded my head, unable to speak. I was afraid of what was coming next.

"Since you will be attending all of our balls and parties, we found it necessary that you learn proper dancing and proper ballroom etiquette."

I swallowed hard. Great, more lessons.

"Let me introduce our governess, Madame Salope"

The wood doors opened behind me and in walked a tall, thin, stern looking woman. She stood vary straight and walked slowly and stopped in front of me. He eyes grazed me up and down.

The first thing out of her mouth was, "We have work to do"

Madame Salope became my own personal jailer, and I am the prisoner on Alastor Street.


	3. Presents

**Presents **

"Sit up straight!"

So far my debutante lessons have proven to be… well…. pointless. They consist of long lectures and then hours of practice with commands barked at me. So far I have apparently learned how to sit the right way, walk straight, and turn my pitiful curtsy into something respectful. I will soon learn how to "eat".

Utensils 101

Joy

After that I will learn at least six different dances; their history, the music, the steps, the works.

Double joy

It has been two weeks since I have first entered the palace and nothing has happened. I wonder how long I'll have to stay here. I'm starting to think that nothing will happen.

Anyway, Madame Salope believes it's extremely important for me to have a horse and ridding skills while I'm staying. Of course I've already been trained in three styles of ridding, but I'm probably doing it wrong. I do everything wrong according to the Madame.

So after breakfast, Madame, Elodie, and I walked down to the stables to pick out a horse.

"Now Elizabeth, horses are ancient creatures that date back farther then mankind…." Mme. Salope started. Great another lecture.

"I like this one!" interrupted Elodie. She pointed out a white mare. I went over to pet her while Madame continued her lecture.

"No. You can not pick out a horse. Horses are very smart and we must honor that. The rider does not pick the horse. The horse picks the rider."

"That's ridiculous." I said somewhat annoyed.

"That is tradition." She protested.

She scurried off to get a stable hand and I rolled my eyes behind her back. We went around to every horse seeing if it "fit" me. None did according to Madame. We came to the final couple of horses when a loud 'clunk' echoed through the barn. Horses went crazy. They whined and bucked. The whole barn started to shake and dust fell from the ceiling. Elodie screamed. Dogs fled. Men came running from the castle.

I held Elodie close to me and looked around, but no one was fleeting the barn. No one was trying to make their escape, something a spy always looks for. I looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't going to fall.

"Savant you no good sun of the devil!" somebody screamed.

The place quieted down as men frantically tried to calm the horses.

"Elodie are you all right?" asked James as he scooped up his little sister. He had come running from the castle.

"I'm fine James!" she protested.

"What in the world was that!" asked an iratated Madame Salope.

"That's our horse Savant. Sometimes he catches mice and scares the other horses. They make a big fuss" answered a stable hand.

The group slowly inched up to see the horse that caused the mayhem. It was the largest horse I had ever seen. It was a strong black stallion, and look to be the biggest war horse in the stable. His eyes were fiery and he bobbed his head. He was nothing short of a high stung mustang.

I turned toward the group calmly, but flinched when something brushed up against my cheek. I backed away and turned to see the high strung mustang's nose two inches from mine.

"Madame Salope, I believe you found the horse you were looking for." said James.

Madame Salope, pale in the face, nodded.

My eyes grew wide. They didn't mean this beast was going to be my new horse, did it.

Certainly not

No

They all stood there smiling at me.

Yes.

"You better get some sleep. You had a rather terrifying day." Margarite tried to persuade me to go to bed, but I was not tired. I was puttering around the room, trying to straighten it up. Madame dropped some heavy hints that there was going to be a room inspection. As a spy I never really sleep anyway. When on the job you always have to be alert.

I had just sat down to read when there was a knock on the door. That was strange seeing as it was nearly midnight. I picked my self up from my bed, grabbed my nightgown cover and walked to the door.

Outside my room was James holding a very large (and probably heavy because he was struggling to hold it still) hat box. I slumped on door frame (Madame Salope would slaughter me if she saw me stand not straight in the presence of a royal) with a questioning look on my face.

"What's this?"

"It's a present from my parents. They wanted me to give it to you"

I pulled of the card attached to the top. It read

For your gracious and solid effort. We are forever grateful.

I placed one hand on the bottom to steady the box and with the other opened the lid. A brown colored, pink nosed, miniature daschund popped out.

"Awwwwwwwwww" I said as I pulled him out. He licked my face happy to be out of the box.

"My parents must really like you. The last person they gave a dog too was the princess of Elivin and that was even before she was married." James said.

"Yeah?" I said trying to act surprised but my eyes didn't leave the dog's face.

"What are you going to call it?" he asked.

"Hmmm…" I thought for a moment "Mops".

"Mops?"

"What you don't like it?"

"What kind of name is that?"

"It's cute!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Well what would you name him?" I protested.

"I don't know. Quite frankly I think it's too ugly to name."

I gasped and covered Mops' ears.

He laughed. "You've got to admit that is one ugly dog."

I shook my head and sneered at him as I started to close the door.

"Goodnight Mademoiselle" he smirked.

"Goodnight" I shut the door in his face. I could hear his laughter through the door.

Asshole.


	4. Babysitting

Babysitting

You'd think that we were done fighting for the night when I slammed the door in his face, but no. Around one in the morning I hear footsteps outside my door. They were very soft, like the person making them didn't want to wake anyone, but my trained ears heard it.

I got up out of bed; tip toed to the door and peeked out. Walking very slowly was a dark figure. I recognized it at once as James. Although I knew his strut…oops did I say strut? I meant walk. Anyways his height was a dead giveaway. I smirked and slowly crept behind him until I was about a foot away. Then I nonchalantly poked him in the middle of his back. He gasped and jumped a mile in the air. My smirk grew larger but I tried to hold my laughter.

"What…. What are you…. doing here?" he said in between breaths.

"Me?! What are you doing at one in the morning?"

"You know I could ask you the same question."

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. Why do you even care?"

See how he makes everything impossible?

"Do you know there are several people in this world who would love to kill you?"

"Like who?"

"Um like a whole country!"

"Yeah, that is 100 miles away from here!"

I crossed my arms and stood my ground. He got the message that I wasn't going to leave.

"Please go back to bed!" he begged.

"No, I'm not really tired. I think I just go tell Don that you've decided to leave for the night."

I started to skip down the hallway, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"You're not telling anyone. Just please go back to bed." He pleaded

"At least let me go with you." I suggested.

"NO! Absolutely not! You can't come!"

"Fine than I'll just go have a little chat with your parents…"

"NO!" he pulled me back again.

"It's either that or take me with you."

"Why do you want to go with me anyway? It's not like I need a babysitter."

Really you don't? Yes I'm out of the job! Ha…. I wish. I simply folded my arms and waited for him to deliberate.

"Ugh! Are all girls this impossible?"

"Only the good ones." I answered.

"He gave a huge sigh and said "Alright, let's go."

I smiled. I'm so good. I quickly ran to my room and threw on a plain dress before we started our trip.

"So where are we going anyway?" I asked.

"**We** are not going anywhere.** I** am going to a pub. **You **can sit outside the door."

"Well that doesn't sound like much fun." I smirked in my sweet voice.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. We escaped out a small window that was close to the ground and snuck to the stables. I went to go tack Savant, but James stopped me.

"Let's only take one horse. It's less suspicious. They won't think we went off together."

I shrugged. He's smarter than he looks. We rode one of the extra horses so we wouldn't tip off who left. He rode in front with me clinging to his waste, trying not to fall of. It would be easy to lunge to your doom at the speed we were going.

Fifteen minuets into our travel I saw a small road littered with old cottages. Five minuets later we were traveling down the road. Most of the houses were bed and breakfasts or small inns. Up on a hill was a cottage with music spewing out of it. A rotting sign read "The Broken Bottle".

We dismounted and I started to walk in, but once again James stopped me.

"You can't go in there. It's not proper for a lady."

"Since when am I ever proper and in case you haven't noticed, I am not exactly what you would call a lady."

Without a look back I entered the pub. It wasn't anything extravagant. I had been in fancier bars. In one corner was a house band and couple men singing drunkenly. The rest of the place was quiet. Men scattered the bar and many huddled around tables. The whole place smelled of rancid milk and grungy B.O.

As soon as James entered there was a shout from one of the tables.

"Oi Jay, over here," said a blonde haired boy with an Irish accent said.

He walked over to the huddle and I followed behind him.

"Who's you friend James?" the boy asked eyeing me. I folded my arms.

"Who? Oh you mean the wench? No I found her on the street and she keeps following me around."

I slapped him on the arm. "I'm his personal babysitter," I announced.

The group giggled. James rolled his eyes.

"So your parents finally gave up and issued you a body guard," said the blonde boy.

"Can we just play?" asked James sounding annoyed. He sat down at the table. Blondie joined him. Another man with no hair and a tattoo on the side of his face sat across from James. They started a game with cups and many dice. I quickly identified it as perudo. (A/N that's the game they play in Pirates of the Caribbean 2)

Three hours and a few drinks later we were walking back through the valley with storm clouds billowing above us. What started as gambling lose change turned into gambling horses. It started to drizzle.

"Ugh, it's raining!" complained James.

"We could've been back at the castle by now if **someone** hadn't bet our horse."

"I could've one that hand."

"Six fives, and I bet my horse." I mimicked his loss.

"Will you please give it a rest?"

"What will your parents say when they discover there missing a horse?"

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged, "I'm going to get a new one for my birthday anyway."

"Are you always this spoiled?"

"I am the crown prince of Kurt," he said as if it was an explanation.

I only sighed. We walked some more and the rain steadily grew heavier.

After awhile I asked him, "Are you looking forward to be the king?"

He thought a moment. "I guess the power will be nice."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know. I've thought about a few things."

"Like what?"

"Well I think punishments for thieves are to merciful."

At this I gagged.

"I don't mean to be rude, but have you ever thought thieves aren't as bad as they seem?"

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"What do robbers steal; food, money? Things they can't get on their own." My voice grew louder with the last sentence.

"Maybe they are just bandits with evil souls and no self discipline!" he yelled.

"How dare you call him evil!" I screamed. Oops, did I just say that out loud.

I covered my mouth and turned away. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"You knew a thief?" he asked softly.

"Never mind." I said.

"No please tell me," he egged on.

"It sounds like you knew one too," I said trying to turn the conversation around. Luckily he didn't back out of it.

"Once, when I was younger," he said.

"What happened?"

"Well I was kidnapped by a group of thieves when I was 16, but I was only held hostage for two days. They weren't the smartest of bandits. I think it scared my mother and sister more than it did me. I never want to see my mother like that again. She swore that I would never be hurt like that again."

"I'm sorry," was all I could say.

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

I swallowed hard at that.

"So, who is he?" he asked referring to my thief slip up, "Tell me your story."

"No" I said with a sigh, "It's…. complicated."

"Come on! I told you mine."

I only smiled and wondered if I should thank him for the story. I decided a subject change was best.

"So, what are you planning to do for your birthday?"

"My parents are throwing a huge ball in my honor. They do every year. It's mostly an excuse for me to find a bride." he stated.

"Well that's always important, but…" I trailed off. I didn't want to start another fight.

"What?"

"Well…it's just that..." I turned to face him. We stopped walking and slowly became soaking from the drizzle.

"Your country is at war and yet, the court is still throwing lavish parties or balls or whatever they are. Shouldn't you be planning your defense?" I started walking again. "And I don't mean any disrespect. I'm still new to this life and I-" but I stopped when I realized he wasn't following me. He just stared at the distant palace.

"I'm sorry…again" I tried to apologize.

"Let's keep going," was all he said.

We reached the palace at dawn without another word to each other.


	5. Encounter

Encounter

Despite our sudden quietness to each other we were back to our usual fighting.

Well it's been eight weeks and it's finally time to showcase all my learning and improvement. Yep, it's finally time for the prince's eighteenth birthday.

I'd rather eat horse dung mixed with pig mud than go to the idiot's party. Alas, it's my job.

Each day he tries to annoy me by telling me that he is looking forward to my attendance at his party, and it works.

Lately I've spent my days outside, patrolling the palace walls. Sometimes I ride Savant around and try to get use to him. That horse is crazy. I don't know why I have to ride him.

Speaking of horses, James' prediction was right. No one noticed the missing horse and if they did, they didn't say anything.

Things have been pretty crazy around here today. Everybody is running around trying to prepare for tomorrow's party. Greg the chef has already started making the feast. Madame even had a dress shipped in from France for me to wear. Personally I can't wait till it's over.

My mind was full of thoughts of excuses to not attend the party, but rather guard it, as I went to bed. I didn't sleep it all, which is a good thing because at three in the morning I hear soft footsteps outside my door.

"Not again" I groaned as I hauled myself out of bed.

I opened my door very quietly and peeked out. A dark capped figure was quickly, but softly running down the hall. I recognized it not to be James, but someone a bit shorter and heavier. The figure was quickly making its way to James room. I noticed that the low hanging window on the other end of the hall was open. I followed the man. He stopped in front of James' room and then started to struggle with something. His arms moved back and forth. Since I only saw his back it looked very strange, but then I realized he was trying to pick the lock.

Shit! I had left my sword in my room. I quickly pulled one of a nearby suit of armor and flung it in front of the man.

"The party is not till tomorrow," I said.

The man faced me. He was wearing all black except for his tan boots. On his face he wore a mask and hood. There was no raider crest in site, so this didn't mean he was from Ishmire.

"Put that down young lady. You might hurt yourself." he teased.

I didn't move but watch as he slowly reached for his sword. Without any warning he lashed his sword at me but I blocked him. I turned and struck at him but he blocked me. We fought until we had moved far away from James' door and closer to the window. I struck his side and he yelled in false pain to catch me off guard. He lunged toward me but I flung my sword at the last minuet and our weapons clashed against each other. He pushed hard against mine and spoke.

"God will show no mercy to those who stay loyal to the crown." he breathed right above my lips. His breath smelled of rotting eggs.

I pushed my sword up against his, but he retreated and tried to strike my leg. I blocked it. He grabbed something and hurled it at me. I ducked, but when I stood up he was gone.

The curtains on the window billowed against it from the wind. I looked out of it, but saw nothing through the darkness.

"What was that?" someone said behind me.

I whipped around to see the shocked eyes of the prince staring at me, my sword still in my hand.

Shit.


	6. Party

**Party**

"It's not what you think!" I blurted out. Who was I kidding, it was exactly what he was thinking.

"Who was that?" he said running to the window.

"I was," I started, but had to redirect my explanation to answer him, "Um… I don't know."

"What did he look like?"

I shook my head in defeat, "I didn't see, he was wearing a mask."

"Did he have-"

"A coat of arms?" I cut him off and sadly shook my head again, "No, he bore no country. He did say something about God punishing the royal crown. Has this happened before?" I don't know why but it seemed like he had a list of questions already prepared.

"Well, it's supposed to. I don't know if you know about the whole secret Ishmire society, but things aren't all buddy-buddy between us.

"Aren't you going to ask-"

"About your chivalry? Yes that is surprising. You know I could have you beheaded for that?"

"I….uh," I tried to make up an explanation but somewhere between him smirking and advancing toward me I lost my words.

"Of course, that would be a bit drastic since you just saved my life." He smiled, his face inches away from mine. It felt very strange for him to be so,… forgiving. I had never felt that intimidated.

"Thank you." and with that he turned on his heel and walked back to his room. I guess now that I had the space to breath I found my words.

"Just so you know, I think that law on not allowing women to defend themselves is preposterous."

He turned his head, smirked, and said, "I'll see what I can do."

Of course we had to tell James' parents, and the head of security, and whoever else about the little break in, we just made sure to leave out my grand heroism. Of course I had to tell the King and Queen about it, but I waited until James wasn't around.

Despite the sudden danger, James' ball was not canceled.

Hoo-ray.

Well I guess we can't always get what we want.

The ball itself was, well, not as bad as I thought it would be. Don't' get me wrong, I still had to listen to rich people bitch and moan about their problems, but it wasn't to the extent that would make me rip out my hair. It was actually rather uneventful. Once I got shuffled into the long line of girls waiting to dance with the prince. I was escorted to his side, where he looked like he was seriously considering suicide.

"Having fun?" I asked.

"Hardly." He yawned, and forgot the next move to the dance.

"Left foot," I reminded him.

"Thanks. Hey will you do me a favor? Will you tell the orchestra to speed it up?"

"That bad huh?"

"You have no idea. Oh and, if you can, will you sneak some bubbly out from the kitchen later tonight? We're having our own little get together."

Before I could ask more on the subject, I was shuffled away so the next girl could have her turn. As I walked by the staircase, the line of girls stared daggers at me. They were jealous that I got an extra minuet with the prince. When ever I walked by a group of girls they would whisper things like, "She's so skinny! How does she stand up?" and "You know she's Elvin? I would watch your back." I just rolled my eyes.

After everyone had left and turned into bed, I snuck down into the kitchens and rummaged around for the leftover bottles of champagne.

When I finally found a good one, I left the kitchen and descended into the dark hall. There was a shuffling nose to my right and then something collided with me.

"Ow!"

"Elle?"

I sighed, but smiled, "Yes, James that is my foot."

"Did you get the champagne?"

"Yes." I said but he didn't wait for an answer. He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the pitch black hall.

"Where are we going?" I asked as a giggle escaped my lips.

"You'll see. We do this every year."

We raced through the maze of hallways, and eventually he led me out a back door. We raced through a barley light meadow, with me giggling uncontrollably the whole way. A small grin was planted on his face. We reached the middle of the meadow, where James' friend from the pub greeted us. Three other people stood beside him, a boy who I recognized from the pub and two girls. James introduced them each briefly. The blonde boy's name was Fred, and next to him stood Elliot, Isabelle, and Marie. We all lay in the middle of the field, talking and watching the sky grow lighter.

"Oh! Here it comes!" shouted Marie. She pointed at the small trees.

A bright orange sun ascended up above the trees. We all shouted and hooted as James uncorked the champagne and a river of fizzy liquor erupted into the air.

"Happy Birthday Jamie!" Fred screamed. We all chorused into a loud and rather drunken round of Happy Birthday. We all laughed and 'clinked' out glasses of champagne.

"So Jay, did you find your future bride?" Fred teased.

Elliot joined in. "Yeah I saw you talking an awful lot with that princess from Sigera."

We all sang out ooohs and ahhs.

"My God, she wouldn't leave me alone! She was rather smitten with me after I told her that she had powdered sugar all over her face!"

We all broke into laughter. I rested my head on James chest, giving in to the alcohol, and he put his arm around me, twirling my red hair.

"So, despite the fact that you've fallen for a fat princess," the group snickered, "was it a good birthday?" I asked sarcastically.

He smirked at me, "You're just jealous." There was another round of oohs and chuckles.

"Yes, I admit it! I am,… what was it,…smitten with you prince James" I mocked sarcastically.

The whole group erupted with laughter. James chuckled and kissed my hair. We stayed there for hours until we decided that soon someone would notice that we weren't in bed.

James and I skipped back to the castle with the others leading the way.

"This happens every year?!"

"We do it for all our birthdays," he said.

"I've never had so much fun."

"You don't get out much."

I laughed and he threw his arm around my shoulder.

"Elle?"

"Hmm?" He stared at me for awhile. His deep blue eyes collided with my green ones. His arm fell from my shoulder to my lower back

"Nothing." He said, changing his mind.

We walked the way the rest of the way with me leaning on his shoulder and his arm around my waste.


End file.
